Earthquake jolts southwest China

Beijing: Southwest China was hit by a magnitude 5 earthquake on Wednesday, state media said.

The quake shook the western Yunnan province south of mountainous Sichuan, the site of May's devastating quake which killed at least 70,000 people.

Houses were knocked down and around 1,200 people were forced to evacuate.

Many homes collapsed in Sudian township, the epicentre, nearly 50 km from Yingjiang county seat, and several townships reported damage, but there were no reports of casualties, Xinhua said.